Some rock groups carry on for too long—until after they’ve lost their spark, after they’ve already done a farewell tour, or after all the original members have jumped ship. Not the Allman Brothers Band, whose players walked off the stage for the last time 10 years ago with their performing skills at a peak and three key co-founders still in the lineup.
Granted, the Allmans’ most striking compositions first surfaced way back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a fact that the band tacitly acknowledged by focusing their goodbye concert on material from that period. But that blistering, three-and-a-half-hour performance demonstrated that the group could still kick up a storm onstage in 2014. If you weren’t lucky enough to be in the audience, the good news is that, almost exactly 10 years later, the show will arrive on November 22, 2024, as a three-CD set called Final Concert 10-28-14. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here. Listen to many of the tracks below.
That gig, which ended a 45-year career that included a few breakups, took place at New York’s Beacon Theatre. It was the last night of a six-night stand at the facility, which also served as the venue for a live album from 2000 called Peakin’ at the Beacon. The theatre had been the site of annual concerts by the group, which reportedly gave more performances there than anywhere else.
On stage for this final show were founders Gregg Allman (piano, organ, acoustic guitar, vocals), Johnny “Jaimoe” Johanson (drums) and Butch Trucks (drums, tympani), along with guitarist Warren Haynes, who joined the group in 1989; guitarist Derek Trucks, Butch’s nephew, who signed on in 1999; percussionist and vocalist Marc Quinones, who came aboard in 1991; and bassist and vocalist Oteil Burbridge, who spent 17 years with the Allman Brothers Band, including eight as a member. Not present from the original lineup were Duane Allman, who died in 1971, and Dickey Betts, who was kicked out of the group in 2000. But Haynes and Derek Trucks did an excellent job of filling the guitar hole left by their absence. (Also missing was bassist Berry Oakley, who died in 1972.)
The album of the concert offers a generous sampler of the innovative, jazz-influenced music that had made the Allmans the kings of Southern rock. The band performs all but one track from its eponymous 1969 debut LP, including Gregg Allman’s “It’s Not My Cross to Bear,” “Black-Hearted Woman,” “Dreams” and “Whipping Post”; the Spencer Davis co-authored “Don’t Want You No More”; and Muddy Waters’ “Trouble No More.” The latter track, which follows a few heartfelt goodbye speeches, closes the concert after Gregg announces, “We’re going to bookend the Allman Brothers Band—end it with the song we started with.”
Also on the program is a big chunk of 1970’s Idlewild South: Betts’ “Revival” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” plus Gregg’s “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’” and “Midnight Rider.” From 1971’s At Fillmore East come Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues”; “You Don’t Love Me,” incorporating a cover of “Soul Serenade”; and “Hot ’Lanta.” In addition, the band delivers the lion’s share of 1972’s Eat a Peach, including “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” Gregg’s tribute to his lost brother; “Melissa,” which Gregg co-authored; the group’s thrilling multipart “Mountain Jam,” which features nods to Donovan’s “There Is a Mountain”; Elmore James’s “One Way Out”; Betts’ “Blue Sky”; and Duane’s instrumental “Little Martha.”
As if all that weren’t enough, the show additionally offers Betts’ “Southbound” from 1973’s Brothers and Sisters, as well as the band’s “JaMaBuBu” and “The High Cost of Living Low.” (The latter, from 2003’s Hittin’ the Note, is the set’s only relatively recent composition.) There are also covers of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Good Morning, Little School Girl,” Elmore James’ “The Sky Is Crying,” and the traditional “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” which the group performed at Duane’s funeral.
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And as this high-octane concert will remind you, the Allman Brothers Band was a very good thing.
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Related: Our Album Rewind of Brothers and Sisters
A top editor at leading consumer and trade magazines for more than 40 years, Jeff has interviewed dozens of musical luminaries, including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tommy James, Tom Waits, the Righteous Brothers, and the members of Steely Dan.
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